Urban nomad herbalism

One of the funniest discoveries during our research for How to survive in a cit: Edible Brussels/Amsterdam turned out to be the tomato.

For those who don’t know this project of Irmafirma: How to survive in a city is the answer to the question how you can survive as a hunter-gatherer in the city.

We were amazed by many surprises, and one of them was the tomato, which we discovered abundantly near railways.

The fairy tale goes like this:

On a beautiful day, tou eat a tomato sandwich, or a tomato-mozzarella salad, or a delicious fresh gazpacho.

Some time later you take the train, preferably a stop train or one of the old type that doesn’t have chemical toilets yet.

While you’re on the train, you feel your bowels are starting to move.

You pay a visit to the restroom and flush.

What happens next? You continue to travel to wherever your destination is, but the undigested tomato seeds fall on the earth between the rail ways or on the side, grateful for the good amount of manure they received, and start to grow, and grow..